Swag Pop Duo Karmin On Body Wash, The JoBros, And Rapping In The Shower

If you haven't heard of swag pop duo Karmin yet, get ready, because these two stylish cats are about to take over the world (yes, they are a couple — cute right?). Nick Noonan and Amy Heidemann have been tearing up YouTube with their mix of covers and original tracks — and now they've made it to the big time with a new single, a forthcoming album, and a sweet-smelling partnership with Tone body wash (not to mention some seriously informative hair tutorials).

Before you guys started making sweet music together, you were students at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. What were your first impressions of each other?Nick Noonan: "I thought she was stuck up."
Amy Heidemann: "Yeah, I looked at him and I was like, 'Ugly.' Just kidding!"

Where are you guys from originally?AH: "He’s from Maine, I’m from Nebraska, and we ended up in Boston. We were there for about eight years. We actually started making YouTube videos like three years ago, so it wasn’t a long time that we were doing it. We did it once a week, and then the Look At Me Now video just kind of blew it over the top."

Was that your plan — to throw down videos once a week and just see what happened?NN: "Pretty much! We were too broke to tour, so we just had to figure out how to do it online."
AH: "Yeah, we were thinking about how we could get an audience, and YouTube was just starting to blow up."

We're really in love with your cover of Super Bass. Being able to rap like that is our most-desired secret power. Amy, how does your mouth go so fast? AH: "I didn’t know I could do that. I mean, I was a little girl in Nebraska. There are not really many female rappers in Nebraska. I thought people would think I was crazy, but they enjoyed it, thankfully."

How did you learn it? Nick, did you quiz her?AH: "When I was younger — this is a true story — I used to rap in the shower. Everything is so echoey, it’s a lot like a studio. And I’ve been using Tone Body Wash during my rap sessions, so when they called us, I was like, 'This is so weird,' because I had actually been using their body wash as my rapping microphone."

Do you guys both use Tone? Is it unisex?NN: "We do, actually."
AH: "The Ocean Therapy scent is like, a spa smell. It’s not fruity or floral."

Tell us more about what you guys have in store with Tone this summer.NN: "We’re going on tour with the Jonas brothers, so in partnership with Tone, we've created these different fan experiences. So, you can go onto their Facebook page and enter to win tickets to hang out with us backstage, at sound check..."
AH: "There might even be some other random contest prizes. We’ve come up with some good ideas, like a shopping spree, a movie day..."
NN: "You can win both of us on an elephant (laughs)!"

It sounds like you guys have a huge summer coming up.AH: "Well, our new single, Acapella, just came out, and it actually is 90 percent a cappella. It doesn’t sound like Glee — we made it more hip-hop — and we’re really excited about it. The new album is due out later this summer, and we're touring from July 10th through August 16th."

That’s awesome. So, Amy, we love your beauty look — how has it evolved over time?AH: "Well, when we were on YouTube, I started doing the suicide roll, which is kind of that retro thing. I had no idea how to do it — in the Look At Me Now video, it’s really bad. And then eventually I learned backcombing, so it’s been a process. I’ve made some hair tutorials and put those up; people like those for some reason!"

Hair tutorials?! We love hair tutorials!NN: "Her curly one actually went viral on Pinterest."
AH: "On Pinterest it has, like, three million hits. And I’m just sitting there like, curling my hair. But I recently went blonde which was a big change. Wavy, short blonde — I always wanted to try it."

One last question: we recently published a story that told The Truth About Carbs. What are your thoughts on the whole gluten-free movement?AH: "Oh, we love avoiding bread, it’s really amazing actually (laughs)."
NN: "There's a lyric in Acapella that goes: 'Thought he was gluten-free, but all that I got was bread.' Bread meaning money, in this case."

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